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Today, the city I live in did something really cool. Local businesses and community members joined in an effort to make Random Acts of Kindness an essential part of the day.
The reason: a remarkable young woman named Sam Bieno. She was supposed to turn 23 today, but instead passed away on April 9th from leukimina. She was not someone I knew personally, but I knew a lot of people that she had an impact on and so I felt like I knew how strong her spirit was.
Sam had told her family that she wanted her birthday to be about random acts of kindness and paying it forward.
In turn, our local Culver's (a burger and custard shop) offered a free scoop of Sam's favorite flavor: cookie dough craving to anyone who walked through the door. The Corner Pocket (a sport bar and eatery) offered baskets of free mini corn dogs (another Sam favorite). Sam also loved Build-A-Bear and made efforts to donate the stuffed animals to children with cancer. The community I live in donated 183 stuffed animals in Sam's name to the local hospital. Beyond that, social media helped spread the #youhavebeensammed campaign and I hear it reached Alaska, Northern Iowa, and North Carolina.
Personally, I picked up a bunch of orange artificial flowers from the local dollar store and handed them out to everyone who came to my Zumba class as well as everyone who happened to be sitting in the library at 8:10 on a Wednesday night.
It was a really awesome day and I'm glad I got to be a part of it.
To quote Sam: "Not every day is good, but there's good in every day."
The reason: a remarkable young woman named Sam Bieno. She was supposed to turn 23 today, but instead passed away on April 9th from leukimina. She was not someone I knew personally, but I knew a lot of people that she had an impact on and so I felt like I knew how strong her spirit was.
Sam had told her family that she wanted her birthday to be about random acts of kindness and paying it forward.
In turn, our local Culver's (a burger and custard shop) offered a free scoop of Sam's favorite flavor: cookie dough craving to anyone who walked through the door. The Corner Pocket (a sport bar and eatery) offered baskets of free mini corn dogs (another Sam favorite). Sam also loved Build-A-Bear and made efforts to donate the stuffed animals to children with cancer. The community I live in donated 183 stuffed animals in Sam's name to the local hospital. Beyond that, social media helped spread the #youhavebeensammed campaign and I hear it reached Alaska, Northern Iowa, and North Carolina.
Personally, I picked up a bunch of orange artificial flowers from the local dollar store and handed them out to everyone who came to my Zumba class as well as everyone who happened to be sitting in the library at 8:10 on a Wednesday night.
It was a really awesome day and I'm glad I got to be a part of it.
To quote Sam: "Not every day is good, but there's good in every day."